DAVID James damaged his hopes of resurrecting his England career by gifting Arsenal a first-half penalty at the Emirates.
The Portsmouth keeper, hoping to take advantage of Paul Robinson's collapse in form, brought down Robin van Persie in the seventh minute and referee Mark Halsey was left with an easy decision.
England face Israel in a pivotal Euro 2008 qualifier at Wembley on Saturday and James' blunder may have settled Steve McClaren's selection dilemma in Robinson's favour.
Adebayor converted the spot kick to send Arsenal into a lead they never relinquished as Arsene Wenger's side cantered to their third Barclays Premier League win of the season.
Cesc Fabregas and Tomas Rosicky completed the rout with second-half strikes and the only cloud over a scintillating display was the 50th minute dismissal of Philippe Senderos.
Senderos was shown a straight red card for blocking Kanu and 12 minutes later the former Arsenal striker pulled one back for Portsmouth with a lucky backheel.
However, Portsmouth scarcely troubled the Gunners' defence and it would have been 4-1 had substitute Abou Diaby not missed a late sitter
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